Investigating the Factors Affecting Farmers' Viewpoint on the Use of Wastewater in Khorramabad County

The present study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the use of wastewater in agriculture sector. The study was conducted by a descriptive-surveying method through field survey of farmers' perspectives in Khorramabad Township and review of documented data. The validity of research tool (questionnaire) was obtained using viewpoints of experts, and for reliability of questionnaires, a pilot test was conducted. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of higher than 0.76 showed that research tool was reliable. The studied population was farmers in Khorramabad Township who used treated wastewater to irrigate their farmlands. Sample size was determined using the Cochran formula (n=199). Questionnaires were distributed randomly among the respondents. For data analysis, we used the descriptive statistics indexes such as mean, mode, standard deviation, and stepwise multiple linear regression. The results showed that the informatics channels for farmers did not have a satisfactory performance. Among the economic factors, the price of wastewater, among the social factors, the acceptance of applying wastewater in agriculture, and among the environmental factors, drought and water shortage had the higher priority compared with other items. Regression results showed that the level of knowledge about nutritive values of wastewater and safety of agricultural products and recommendations of experts in the farm were the strongest explanatory variables in willingness of farmers for using wastewater in agriculture. These variables explained 44 percent of dependent variable changes. Based on the results of the research, specialized workshops by experts are recommended to increase farmers' awareness and knowledge about the use of wastewater in agriculture.